Jon Wright

Using Flys or Flies incorrectly is a common grammatical mistake that is made even by native English speakers. Flies – Is the plural of the insect (a fly) or something that flies through the air (planes, birds, Superman, frisbees, etc.). It’s also used colloquially to mean something that moves quickly. Flys – Is normally wrong … Read more

It’s always Per Se. Per Say is wrong, even though it may sound and look right. Derived from Latin, ‘per se’ means ‘in and of itself’. It is used to distinguish between something in its narrower sense and something larger which it represents. Yes, it’s confusing, and yes I see per se spelled wrong all … Read more

Let’s vs lets – do you find it difficult to know which one you should be using in your writing? ‘Let’s’ and lets are different verb forms from the same root word: ‘let’. ‘Let’ can refer to one of several nouns or several verbs which sound the same but have different meanings. The structure and … Read more

Leafs or Leaves, what’s the difference? Nothing is more confusing than two words that sound exactly the same but are spelled differently. Leafs and Leaves is a set of homonyms that aren’t seen very often but can leave you scratching your head when they do. Homonyms, which are words that sound alike or are spelled … Read more

Whilst who and whom are often used interchangeably in everyday speech, there is a real grammatical distinction. Whether it matters anymore is dependent on how formal or grammatically correct you want to be. ‘Who’ refers to the subject of a sentence, the person doing something, and ‘whom’ to the object of a sentence, the person … Read more

Their own or there own? Are you trying to work out which one to use? ‘Their’ and ‘there’ are homophones, words which sound the same but have different meanings. Confusion over when to use them is very common, even amongst native English speakers. You must look at the context of the full sentence in order … Read more

In British English both practise or practice are correct spellings but they are not interchangeable, you need to know when to use each. In American English the word is only spelled one way, practice (with a C, not an S). So, now we’ve got that covered, let me explain when to use practise and when … Read more

The short answer as to whether to use affect change or effect change is that it is always effect change, not affect change. But I’ll explain why and give you some tips on how to remember which one is correct. Affect and effect are two words that are easily mistaken for another. One is a … Read more